Barcelona Day One: Crisis Averted, Our First Spanish Churros, Cathedrals and Kisses

And just like that – thanks to the wonders of modern aviation – our family was on another continent before breakfast! Our flights went smoothly (I’ll recap the transit experience, things that worked especially well from a logistical perspective, and break down how much everything cost in a separate post), and we arrived in Barcelona without much fanfare.

This is the first of SEVEN recap posts. That is a lot of posts dedicated to one trip. I know this. But I love looking back at my travel posts and our whole family loves pictures and memory-keeping in general, so “a lot” is what I will produce. If travel recaps are not your thing, no hurt feelings if you’d rather skim – or skip – the next week or so.

Since I didn’t take my One Line A Day Journal to Barcelona, I wrote down all sorts of tidbits + a quick recap of each day in a notebook I brought along. It was a nice way to unwind in the evening and now I have a play-by-play reminder of what we did each day!

*Warning: the photo overload will now commence.*

After clearing customs we headed to the ticketing machine to sort out public transit. Despite my quasi-obsessive planning of things to do in Barcelona, I hadn’t done much by way of researching or arranging transportation. In the end we opted to take the train from the airport into the city, connecting to the Metro station closest to our hotel. (Since I didn’t fully understand the various options, we bought 2-day Hola Barcelona passes for everyone; perhaps not the best deal, but they included the train from the airport which isn’t covered with regular public transit passes + unlimited public transit for two days, including the Montjuïc cable car, buses, trams and all Zone 1 Metro lines).

Side note: we really enjoyed the Metro system in Barcelona. It was clean. It was efficient. It was easy to navigate. But it was also busy. We never – ever – saw a train/Metro this empty again. A complete and total anomaly on our trip in from the airport.

Things were going SWIMMINGLY. We had packed very lightly for this trip: three small wheeled suitcases and three backpacks. This totaled six carry-on bags – leaving each child responsible for a single item. About five stops into our train ride from the airport John asked, rather casually, “Where is L’s backpack?”

I thought he was joking. Practical jokes are not uncommon for John, and I assumed he was pulling my leg. He was not – L had left his backpack at the airport, presumably by the loading area for the train.

The first thing that jumped to all our minds was brown blankie – a small afghan knitted by my best friend from university. Brown blankie has been with L every single night – perhaps without exception? – since he came home from the hospital as an infant. If our house was on fire and L could only save brown blankie or me – the person who literally gave him life – it would be a very difficult choice.

In other words, losing this backpack was a devastating blow. Literally nauseous with worry, we hopped off the train and headed back toward the airport hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. I remember praying: God, you’re God of the big and the little things. And yes, this is a little thing, but I sure would love for you to show up in a big way.

The return trip felt like it took forever; best case scenario we figured security would have picked it up – tracking it down could take hours because this was the one bag without an identifying label – but at least the items would be safe. Worst case scenario, another traveler might have absconded it and, given the lack of “valuable” contents, thrown it out. Gah.

The train doors opened, L darted out and saw his bag first (Praise the Lord!)…and the imposing security guard second. There was an airport guard in a bright orange (bullet proof?) vest standing beside his backpack. We explained it was our bag and he let L pick it up, but before we left A GIANT GERMAN SHEPHERD SNIFFER DOG ARRIVED with yet another guard. There was a flurry of radio communication between the guards and central security. The whole thing was a bit surreal, but we ended up leaving with the backpack – and brown blankie. What a start to our trip! Thankfully we didn’t shut down the entirety of Barcelona airport due to a perceived security threat on our first day of vacation.

For reasons that are now obvious, we left A in charge of L’s backpack the rest of the way to the hotel.

By 10 am we were at the hotel getting approved for an early check-in. This was amazing. We changed clothes, unpacked a bit; less than an hour later were headed out to explore Barcelona.

After sitting for so many hours in transit, we opted to walk to our first destination – El Corte Inglés. Kate recommended this stop for both the food and the city views – it was a home run. El Corte is a giant department store (the biggest in Europe and the third largest in the world!). They have a few locations in Barcelona, but we went to the one that borders Plaça de Catalunya. The top (9th) floor is a cafeteria with reasonable prices, great food, and incredible views. This ended up being a highlight of the trip for me. We were in Barcelona! We were eating delicious food! Look at the city, kids! And, best of all, they had easy-to-access public washrooms – I was still very nervous about the bathroom situation. The kids also loved all the escalators (quite honestly, I love escalators, too!).

Appetites satisfied we headed out to see more of the city, wandering through Plaça de Catalunya which loosely represents Barcelona’s city center. It also happens to be FULL of pigeons.

Plaça de Catalunya leads right into Las Ramblas – the most iconic pedestrian street in Barcelona. Near the top, we spotted Font de Canaletes. According to tradition (reminiscent of the coin throwing superstition at the Trevi Fountain), if a visitor to Barcelona drinks from this fountain, they are guaranteed a return trip.

We all took long drinks before continuing on our way. I guess this means we’ll be back? [Said in our best Arnold Schwarzenegger accent.]

There was lots of ohhing and ahhing over the abundance of quaint side streets, which we wandered up and down until arriving at Pont del Bisbe. This spot looks like something plucked out of antiquity but it was actually built in the 1920’s. Somehow it’s not quite as charming once you learn the age? It’s obvious why this is one of the most photographed areas in all of Barcelona though – very pretty! The architect was an apprentice of Gaudi who, in addition to building this bridge, wanted to re-design other areas in Barcelona. These suggestions were refused by local counsels – to signal his distain for their decisions, he incorporated a skull and dagger into the roof of the arch and the bridge has been declared “cursed” ever since!

At one point there were no tourists in sight and I attempted to get a picture of the kids for next year’s Christmas card. Here’s how that worked out…

Everything has the potential to be a jungle gym for this fella.

Next up was a stop at Sant Felip Neri Square/Church. Sadly, during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s, two bombs fell on the church in this square, killing dozens of civilians – mostly children – and the marks of those bombs are still visible. There is a school inside this (tiny!) square and when we visited they were outside on recess, the door of the church serving as a soccer net for a pickup game. The kids seemed very nonchalant to the historical significance of their playing pitch.

We wandered by Barcelona Cathedral – also known as The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (I’ll stick with Barcelona Cathedral). It’s old and has all sorts of interesting history, including thirteen resident geese inside the cloister – but despite visiting on three separate occasions we never managed to get in. They were always closed to visitors when we happened to arrive, even though we came during purported visiting hours? The views from outside had to suffice, and we had more important business to attend to – tasting our first churros.

We got sugared churros with a Nutella dipping sauce and they did not disappoint. The kids were especially enthusiastic about this Spanish culinary experience.

Sufficiently fueled for more walking, we went to see some ancient Roman ruins – the Temple of Augustus, built around the 1st century BCE. John and I had fun flashbacks to last year’s trip to Italy. By now a child needed a bathroom, so we made a hasty retreat to a nearby Starbucks (insider tip: they have fabulous bathrooms and you don’t need to buy anything to use them).

We swung by Plaça Reial (no pictures this time – oops) to sit down and catch our breath, and then took the Metro back to our hotel where we unpacked some more, I took a quick nap, and the kids enjoyed some screen time to unwind.

Knowing we were going to want to fall asleep far too early (hello, jet lag), we pushed through and took the Metro back to the Gothic Quarter for a supper of empanadas at La Fabrica (they were delicious) and did some more side-street wandering.

Then we took a quick spin through the Santa Maria del Mar church. Built in the 1300s, this church has a beautiful interior, but the main draw for us was a fun scavenger hunt. After the Spanish Civil War, the church needed extensive restoration (it was on fire for 11 days). The FC Barcelona football club was approached for a donation; they agreed, on the condition their “coat of arms” be included in the stained glass. It’s tucked away in an obscure location to the left of the main altar, but we spotted it and a certain 9-year-old boy was especially delighted.

Santa Maria del Mar is also unusual since it was championed – and constructed – by “common” people, not nobility or the “Church”. The volunteer labourers who carried the stone used to build the church (locally known as bastaixos) are carved into the doors of the main entrance. The quarries for the stone were located 6 km away, so that made for a lot of arduous walks!

After another bathroom break (Starbucks to the rescue), we stopped by Barcelona Cathedral again. No luck getting in…but we did spot an original Spanish Inquisition’s Blazon, with the coat of arms still intact. L also found someone making bubbles which provided a fun diversion from jetlag.

The kids were less than impressed with our stop by The World Begins With Every Kiss in Plaça d’Isidre Nonell. This mural was created to commemorate Catalonia Day – September 11, 1714, when Catalonia surrendered in the War of Spanish Succession. Thousands of Barcelona residents submitted photos to the artist (it was installed in 2014 I think); when we got up close we could see the individual tiled pictures. Very cool!

We capped off the evening with gelato (fine, nothing to write home about), and a second set of churros (fine, nothing to write home about – which was disappointing because this shop is ranked one of the best in Barcelona).

Then it was back to the hotel for showers before settling in to bed at 9:00 pm local time. Unfortunately, the kids were a bit restless and I wasn’t thrilled (#Understatement) to be woken up by their bickering at 9:30 pm…and then again at 10 pm. Oh well. That was a small hiccup at the end of a great day and they did amazingly well for their first experience with jet lag!

• Distance Walked: 16.8 km | 23,623 steps

And that’s a wrap on Day One. Have you ever forgotten something important while travelling? Did your story have a happy ending?